By SilvyrWing
They all knew they'd forgotten something.
"To the Command Post. Now." Commander Goddard was, of course, the first to speak, having been able to throw off the shock of Thelma's noncommittal statement. How could she talk about it wish such ease?
No one had to be asked twice. Though Suzee was still a bit unsteady, and Radu still had a horrible headache, they were right behind the others as everyone filed out of the MedLab and into the corridor. They all passed right by Harlan, who was sulking in the hall… Suzee wouldn't have even seen him if her ears hadn't picked up the Earther's slight shift in position. As the others hurried off, she turned back toward him.
"Harlan? We gotta get to ComPost. The coordinates I entered…" She paused, biting her lip.
"Not easy to admit you're wrong, is it?"
She shook her head.
"Not something I'm used to admitting either." He leaned back against the wall, unwilling to follow Suzee to the Helm.
"Look. Harlan… We both messed up." Her eyes narrowed. "But I can carry you right now. And I will if you don't get your ass up there and pilot us out of here."
She thought she could detect the faintest of smiles as he pushed off from the Christa's living wall and passed her by. "Remind me to mention how weird this is later," he mumbled, as he started off at a jog for the Command Post.
They were the last ones there… The others were already in their positions, except for Radu, who looked almost lost standing between Engineering and Navigation. When he caught Suzee's eyes, he realized that she was torn the exact same way. On one hand, Radu knew Navigation… It's what he'd done since boarding the Christa. He had no knowledge of engineering. But while Suzee knew Navigation, she was currently the only one on the ship that could feel where in space they were. After a moment's hesitation, she pointed Radu toward the Nav console, while she took Engineering.
Radu watched her for a while as she began adjusting output to the engines. She was in her element there, while he was somewhat lost without that ability to automatically know what course to plot. Reaching into a pocket, he withdrew the sheet full of errors, and realized that he'd been in the position long enough where he actually knew what to do to fix things. He didn't need the innate talent he used to have. Without a second though, Radu began repairing the damage done to their former course.
Meanwhile, Suzee was staring down at the Engineering console in confusion, muttering through her teeth in a voice that only Catalina could hear. "The ship must hate me. Nothing is working out, Cat! It's still messed up just as badly as when I started. I can't get output to the engine, 'cuz the relay is still down."
"You checked that, though, and it was fine," the Saturnian said.
"Structurally, yeah. But there must be something inside…"
"You mean, like the brain of a sentient ship," Cat mused.
The idea would have seemed ridiculous to her before, but now, Suzee found that it didn't seem so terribly far-fetched. Her very mind seemed as willing to listen to the input from others just as her ears were.
"The course is in," Radu said. "You should get a readout, Harlan."
Harlan looked back toward the navigator. "You're sure it's right this time."
"Of course I'm sure!" Radu snapped.
Suzee winced. "He sounds just like me," she muttered to Catalina. And she didn't particularly like what she heard.
"Why are we still sitting here?" Miss Davenport demanded, looking toward Suzee.
"C'mon, Suz," her invisible friend urged. "Think about that later."
Looking back down at the console, she couldn't particularly see anything wrong. There was just nothing else she could possibly do. Sure, the ship was going, and the levels looked fine, but she couldn't seem to coax it into hyperdrive. Sighing, she decided to rely on the last possible farfetched attempt she could muster.
"Christa. Please."
Suddenly, the Protomix bar indicator flared to life. Suzee had to stare at it for a full quarter minute before she could bring herself to believe it was possible. "…Radu! We need a course plotted in for hyperdrive, now!"
"You got it working?" Bova asked incredulously as he turned toward her.
"Yes! Yes! It's up! We have five minutes before we take off!"
Radu compared the readout to the coordinates he was entering. For the sector they were in, they should have a clear shot right past an active supernova… If he remembered correctly, and he was sure it was fine. They'd be far enough away from the star to cause any alarm. He was about to send the coordinates to Harlan, before he realized that there was actually a possibility he could be wrong. Granted, he knew the sector. But this was the first time he was flying blind, so to speak.
"Suzee, I'm sending the readout over to you. Check it."
She was about to protest, but there was already a printout from her console. The numbers meant little to her, but if she thought about their location and their current trajectory, the code that made up the axes seemed to fall into place. For a moment, she thought they were reversed… Then remembered that was the exact same mistake that had gotten her into trouble the first time. "It's fine," she finally responded.
The Protomix started to emit an audible hum… One everyone was used to and glad to hear after it had been silent for so long. The Christa's wings tucked inward, and just as Radu finished sending the course to the Helm, Harlan punched the hyperdrive into action.
"It's only enough for a short jump," Suzee cautioned, stepping away from her station. "Hopefully it's enough, but I didn't want to push the Christa too hard. We're gonna need to collect some ions from the supernova we're passing." Her arm rested just next to the control.
"Shut it down," the Commander stated.
"Entering normal space," Suzee confirmed. "We're right where we should be."
Seth allowed himself to relax a bit. He deserved it, after all that had happened in the past few hours. "Alright team—" He began.
"Wait." Rosie stood up, raising her arm. "I'm getting an incoming message. Just audio."
"Play it," Goddard commanded.
The voice that came through the com was foreign, and spoke in tones that none on board the Christa could hope to reproduce. It was guttural, low, and menacing… And while they couldn't understand it, they had a feeling they knew who it was from.
"It's them, isn't it?" Harlan asked. "The Canary People."
"The Caniiric," Thelma confirmed. "They say that the wake from our engines has carried their missiles after us into deep space, and we are still doomed. But they would like to add that they have added our particular maneuver into their repertoire, just in case."
Rosie narrowed her eyes, playing the message a bit more quietly. "Does this sound bitmapped?" she wondered, mostly to herself. It was almost as if the voice had come from a machine. It sounded not too much different than Miss Davenport's voice had earlier.
"Probably the translator," Suzee said, glancing in her direction before looking out through the viewscreen. Her voice was tense… Rosie could tell she was trying to think of a way out of the situation. The light from the supernova was incredibly bright, and created interesting shadows throughout the Command Post… It was also increasing in temperature… Slightly, but enough for everyone to feel it. They weren't in any danger, as long as they kept their distance.
Then Suzee said, "How close can you get to the star, Harlan?"
"Are you insane?" he hissed. "We're already too close as it is. We need to get out of here."
"We can use the gravity of the supernova to draw the missiles away from us. It won't be enough to draw them away completely… If we got that close, it would just suck the Christa in, too." Suzee paused in thought. "But if we can slow 'em down, I can patch into their systems and remote detonate them, hopefully at a safe distance."
"I'm not sure you're exactly in your right mind, Suzee," Bova droned. "No offence, of course. Call me crazy, but falling into a sun is slightly less preferable to getting blown up."
Rosie muttered something as she worked at her console, though it didn't seem important, at the time. Something about decoding the message.
"You're all crazy!" T.J. interjected, sitting down right on the floor and holding her head. "If you wouldn't have gotten us into this situation in the first place…"
"Well, we are in this situation," Radu spoke up.
"Let me try to get us out of it," Suzee added. "Trust me, please."
Goddard looked at Radu, then back at Suzee, before turning to the Helm. "Band, get us as close to the star as you can."
Biting back any comments he might have had, Harlan steered the ship toward the star. "Suzee, we're going to need more output."
"I'm giving it all we have. Just hold us steady." She fell silent as she started her endeavor to hack into the alien missiles.
"Course is altering," Bova commented, "But they're going to compensate for that as soon as their computers adjust."
"I'm into the system…" Suzee muttered, though her voice was taking on a bit of Radu's insecurity. "It doesn't seem like it should be this easy."
"Just get rid of them!" Harlan practically shouted, as he continued fighting to keep the Christa from slipping backwards.
"Done!"
They all heard the explosion through the ship's audio output, though since they were pointed away from it, no one could see it.
"Brace for a concussion!" Goddard shouted, just as Harlan pulled free from the star's gravity and set them back on course. The metal surfaces inside the Christa had actually become warm, and as he grabbed onto the helm, the sweat on his palms prevented him from getting a good grip on it.
As the internal noise from the explosion died away, they all prepared for an aftershock that would rock the ship… But it never came.
After a short confused silence, it was Rosie that spoke up first. "…I got a fix on that transmission. It was sent by a Starship with a registration of P-0Z2R45Y-H. That's us. That's the Christa."
Blinking, the Commander looked toward the Mercurian. "That can't be possible."
Giggling, she shrugged. "Looks like we were set up."
---
"As I have mentioned before, the Christa does what is right for her crew." Thelma looked toward each of the crew in turn before continuing. "And in the case, she was of the opinion that Radu and Suzee were unhappy. She wanted to do something about it."
"So… You didn't tell us until now?" Commander Goddard leaned an elbow on the helm. He didn't exactly find it amusing.
"I did not know until now."
Suzee shook her head. "She was right."
Harlan looked back at her. She sat next to the navigation console, with Radu seated just on the other side. "Who? Thelma?"
"No," she replied. "Christa. I thought… I thought that I was useless. I couldn't fix the ship. I couldn't make it work."
"The… Christa thought that perhaps Suzee could benefit by both learning how to react through the mind of another, and also seeing herself through the eyes of another." Thelma smiled at her. "Radu just happened to be in the right place at the right time… Though Christa was able to turn that into an experience for both of them."
Harlan looked toward his two mind-addled friends. They seemed fine, but he could tell they were on edge. The Andromedan eyes held none of Suzee's spirit, while Radu chose to hide his face behind brightly-colored Yensidian hair. They wanted to know if there was a way for them to change back, but neither of them wanted to hear the bad news if there wasn't.
Harlan finally asked for them. "Thelma, is there a way to… You know… Get them back to normal?"
"Yes, of course," she said cheerfully. They'd just need to be connected to the Christa at the same time."
"Like… The wire. In the engine room?" Suzee questioned.
"Yes. Like that," Thelma confirmed. "I could also send a shock through you both, as I am connected to the Christa. I would have to build up the proper charge, first, of course, else I could potentially create a rather interesting chain reaction that could kill us all!"
Radu winced. "…Take your time," he said.
Nodding, Thelma did nothing particularly out of the ordinary, but she stopped moving almost entirely.
"So now… I guess we wait," Suzee mumbled. She turned toward Radu… It was almost like looking in a mirror, and that made it all the more strange. "I think you should go talk to Harlan," she added, nodding over to where he stood at the Helm.
"Any reason?" Radu asked.
"I just talked with him a bit on the way up here. He seemed a little upset."
Uncertainty fought with quiet confidence in Radu's mind. He couldn't exactly change who he was, but he could certainly draw on whatever resources he had available. After steeling himself, he got to his feet, looking back at Suzee, who urged him on.
"Hey Harlan," he said as he neared the Helm. He tried to make it sound casual, but the attempt fell flat.
Harlan glanced over, automatically responded with, "Hey, Suzee."
Radu chuckled.
"Sorry." Harlan shook his head. "Radu… Sorry. This is just…"
"And you're not even the one living it." Radu looked back at Suzee, who had already grown bored with just sitting there, and was now concerning herself with the navigation readouts. "Suzee said you wanted to talk to me."
Harlan said nothing at first, but just as Radu was starting to think maybe he was wrong to address the Earther, he spoke up. "…Look, I trust you. You know that."
"I'm not the one you knocked out with a crate," Radu pointed out. He wasn't looking forward to feeling the pain of a broken nose when he was himself again. "Though I'm sure Suzee was acting pretty strange."
"Oh, she was," Harlan laughed. "Said something about Andromedan litanies and how she wasn't feeling well. I should have been able to see through it."
Radu scrunched up his nose. "Andromedan… litanies? I didn't know we had any."
"I think that's when the Commander started thinkin' something was wrong," Harlan replied. "But like I said. I should have been able to figure it out."
"It wasn't just you," Radu shrugged. "We should have told everyone what was going on from the start."
He heard footsteps behind him as Suzee approached. "What?" she leaned on Radu, careful not to knock him over this time. "…And ruin the Christa's fun? That would have been mean."
"So you guys aren't mad?" Harlan quested hopefully.
Radu was about to answer that they weren't, when Suzee spoke up before he could. "Oh, we are. I'm tempted to break your nose myself and return the favor."
The color drained from Harlan's face, which was interesting, to say the least. He laughed, though. "Hey, it wasn't my idea. Besides…"
"She was kidding," Radu interrupted, elbowing Suzee in the ribs.
She was about to protest when she suddenly felt a painful jolt course through her. Mercifully, it ended with a complete loss of consciousness.
As Suzee and Radu fell to the floor, Thelma drew her hands back to her sides. Harlan blinked at her, surprised… But she commented simply, "The charge was ready."
---
The first thing he felt as he came to was pain. All over. It was as if each of his nerves was burning, and the synapses were all firing at once. He was hesitant to open his eyes. Eventually, though, the realization that his face hurt brought him back to full consciousness. He felt like himself again.
Just next to him, Suzee was stirring. Her face was contorted in pain as she fought to regain wakefulness. All around him, he could hear the quietest shuffling of footsteps… And could actually listen to the conversation Rosie was having with Bova from all the way across the Command Post.
"You awake yet?" Harlan wondered, nudging Radu in the ribs with his boot.
"Yeah. Yeah… Getting there." He looked over at the sleeping Yensidian. "Check on Suzee. I don't think her system can take as much as mine can."
Harlan kneeled down next to the girl, gently shaking her shoulder. "So… Does this mean you're back?"
Radu nodded, instantly regretting it.
"Radu…?" The voice came from behind him, and he turned to see that Rosie had approached. He smiled as much as he could without causing excruciating pain… It was rare for an Andromedan to break a bone, but when it happened, it tended to hurt like hell.
Rosie appeared to find something in his face… Maybe in his eyes. His demeanor. Kneeling down, she hugged him, and as he pulled her close, he whispered, "I'm going to need something for the pain, when you have time."
She buried her face in his shoulder, offering a muffled, "No problem," before pulling away.
"Next time a warning wouldn't go unappreciated, Thelma," Suzee said, turning her head toward the android.
"Note taken," Thelma replied.
Sitting up, Suzee attempted to bring her double vision into focus… And yelped in surprise as not one Rosie, but two, practically tackled her.
"Rosie… My head…"
"Yep, you're definitely Suzee," the Mercurian observed. Despite the mental fuzziness, Suzee chuckled, returning the embrace.
"I hate to interrupt the moment," Goddard remarked dryly. "But we still have a ship to fly. And unless I heard incorrectly, we'll have to fuel up around this sun."
Rosie stood up, holding out her hand to help Suzee up. "It's almost as if nothing even happened," the Yensidian remarked.
"Well," Rosie wondered, thoughtfully. "If you think about it, it wasn't anything out of the ordinary."
Suzee pulled herself up to her console, muttering under her breath… "Because actual ordinary would be so much to ask for."